Chapter 4 - The Threat at the DocksWhile peace settled over Mateo’s hospital room in Manhattan, a catastrophic storm was gathering in the dark underbelly of New York's shipping networks.
Dante Moretti—the ruthless fifty-five-year-old leader of the Moretti Syndicate—had discovered that Kieran Blackwood had personally intervened in the Torres family debt, placing Mateo under federal medical protection and shutting down the Moretti Syndicate's extortion leverage.
At 10:00 PM on Thursday night, Kieran sat in his private study at the Westchester estate reviewing shipping manifests when his chief lieutenant, Marcus, stepped into the room, his face pale and tense.
"Don Kieran," Marcus reported sharply. "Dante Moretti has just blocked our primary container terminal at Pier 18 in Brooklyn. He brought thirty armed mercenaries and is claiming a secondary debt lien against Saraphina's late father."
Kieran set his fountain pen down flat on his mahogany desk. His storm-gray eyes went dark as mountain ice, a cold, lethal fire igniting in his features.
"Dante Moretti thinks he can use a dead man's debt to threaten my family?" Kieran’s baritone thundered softly through the quiet room.
I stepped into the study from the adjoining lounge, wearing a warm cashmere sweater, my heart tightening as I heard Marcus's report. "Kieran... please! Dante Moretti is dangerous! My father warned me that Dante has federal prosecutors on his payroll!"
Kieran stood up fluidly from his leather chair, walking across the room, wrapping his broad, warm arms around my waist, pulling my back flush against his broad chest.
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He pressed a sweet, lingering kiss against my temple, his deep voice carrying an unyielding, velvet power.
"Dante Moretti made one fatal mistake, Saraphina," Kieran promised into my hair. "He thought you were alone. Tonight... I show him what happens when someone touches the queen of the Blackwood empire."
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